As soon as he entered the cave, Minhyuk transformed his Barraca’s Sword into a cauldron. It was the sort of cauldron that one would see in movies and dramas. Strangely enough, the food that was cooked in the cauldron looked even more delicious and appetizing. The cauldron was filled with jujube, the Thousand-year-old Ginseng, branches of the World Tree, garlic, salt, as well as trimmed pieces of cleaned chicken, and it was already boiling.

The contents of the cauldron had been left to boil for quite some time, so hot steam rushed up when he opened the lid of the cauldron.

“Hot! Hot!” 

As soon as the steam cleared up, Minhyuk could see that the samgyetang was already cooked well. He could even see the natural oil from the chicken floating on top of the soup. Then, he scooped up the well-boiled samgyetang on a plate, before preparing some salt and pepper for the dip.

Minyuk first picked up a big piece of chicken leg off of the plate. It was so hot that he felt like his fingertips reddened due to the heat. He hastily licked his finger to alleviate the pain from the heat, before taking a big bite out of the chicken leg.

“Hoo─”

A big piece of meat was torn from the chicken leg, as he sat inside the cold and frosty cave. Minhyuk could even see the hot air puff out of his mouth in every bite. He gently rolled the meat in his mouth and chewed it slowly. Every bite of the savory and chewy meat allowed the flavour to spread out in his mouth. Then, he dipped the chicken leg in the salt and pepper dip.

Chew, chew.

The addition of the salty flavor to the otherwise bland and greasy chicken was like the icing on the cake. Then, using a ladle, he scooped up the white, greasy soup into a bowl. He gently held the bowl with both of his hands as he placed his lips on the lid of the bowl. He then blew on the hot soup before taking a long sip.

“Sluuuuuuurp!”

With just one sip of the soup, the cold that permeated Minhyuk’s body immediately went away. 

‘How refreshing!’

After Minhyuk finished eating the chicken legs, he looked at the chicken breast before tearing it apart. Although the chicken breast was usually quite dry, it had its own charm. Minhyuk used his bare hands to rip the well-ripened kimchi into long pieces. The best food that paired well samgyetang was stripped pieces of kimchi!

Minhyuk quickly placed some chicken meat and kimchi together in his mouth. He could not help but admire the spicy and sour flavor of the kimchi that easily washed away the greasiness of the samgyetang.

Then, Minhyuk silently wiped his greasy hands with some wet wipes once, before starting to eat again. By the time he finished eating the meat, his soup bowl was already refilled with soup. Then, he added some rice and seasoned it with some salt. The resulting gruel made with the soup of the samgyetang and some rice mixed together had a charm of its own.

Minhyuk placed a piece of kimchi on top of his spoon filled with rice and soup. The flavors of the greasy soup, the plump grains of rice, as well as the kimchi danced harmoniously in his mouth. After tasting it, he added some cooked garlic on top of his rice. To be honest, Minhyuk preferred garlic grilled together with meat, but he also liked the taste of this well-boiled garlic that could melt in his mouth. It has such a unique flavor and texture that he could not get it out of his mind.

After he ate the garlic, there were still some leftovers. It was the very core of this samgyetang. The Thousand-year-old Ginseng. Minhyuk quickly picked up the Thousand-year-old Ginseng and gingerly placed it in his mouth. The more Minhyuk chewed on it, the more he realized that the bitterness of the ingredient had toned down after being boiled in samgyetang for a long time. After chewing at least half of the ginseng, Minhyuk said, “Indeed, samgyetang should definitely have ginseng!”

Just then, he heard a voice right next to him.

“H… hey…”

The man was wearing a black robe, with a staff in his hand and a hat on top of his long hair that was tied behind him. Minhyuk could also see a huge flame magic casted behind the man. It was Hellfire.

Minhyuk frowned at the sight. First, he hated being interrupted especially when he was having a meal. Second, the Hellfire cast behind the man was a clear indication that the man was ready to PK.

However, the man who was approaching Minhyuk was shocked beyond words, trembling as he asked him, “Th… that’s not the Thousand-year-old Ginseng, right?”

Minhyuk hurriedly crammed the rest of the Thousand-year-old Ginseng into his mouth. The man looked at him as if he was crazy as he cursed out, “That is the Th… Thousand-year-old Ginseng!! Which bastard would cook a Thousand-year-old Ginseng and put it in samgyetang?!” 

Minhyuk, a person who would usually answer kindly and politely, answered this uninvited guest with a calm, yet blunt, response. He said, “Me.” 

***

Every country in the world had its own ‘Player Killers’. On the Athenae China Server, there was a very notorious ‘Haochen’ guild. Haochen was not a globally-known guild, but it was considered to be one of the ‘untouchable guilds’ in China. There were a lot of ridiculous reasons arising from their guild members, but it was mainly because there was a large number of rankers in their guild.

Although Haochen was not one of the top guilds in China, even a one-year-old baby would know of its name. They would also remember to never enter Haochen’s territory. As soon as they entered Haochen’s territory, the guild members would continue to slaughter the player until they received a ridiculous amount of resources.

In one of Haochen’s hideouts, there were currently four influential players gathered together. The guild master was a man named Bedu. He was ranked 61st in the official global rankings. He was grinning widely as he spoke to his guild members, “All preparations are completed. The Monarch will wake up today.” 

“Yeah. That’s right.” 

Bedu lowered his head and stood up from his seat. They were preparing to make a big swoop in Beas Village. The village was located precisely in the Berest Mountains. They knew that strong players from all over the world would start to flock in Beas Village for the upcoming Monarch Raid. Haochen Guild had prepared a gift for them in advance.

Then, one of the hidden class players, the ‘Devil Worshipper’ slowly approached Bedu. He was a player with the nickname Kelmann. Kelmann opened a small box with two black sculptures inside. One of the sculptures was a hand, while the other was a body. They were none other than the sculptures that sealed the ‘Ancient Monarch’.

It was quite surprising that there were two Ancient Monarch Sculptures in Athenae China server. It was due to the fact that the Haochen Guild had devoted themselves to collecting the pieces of this sculpture.

“With the first sculpture, the awakened Monarch in Beas Village will be comparable to a Level 480 boss monster. The fusion of two sculpture pieces will push the Monarch’s power to Level 520. If we fuse three sculpture fragments together, then the Monarch’s power could increase further.”

This was a hidden piece of information that most players did not know. However it was different for Kelmann, the Devil Worshipper. He was worshipping Demon Verus, so he was able to gather a lot of information from him.

Their biggest problem was the difficulty in reaching Beas Village. However, with a clear goal ahead of them, they were determined to push through. Haochen Guild accepted the quest to go to Beas Village as part of the preparation for this plan. Their plan was simple.

“What would happen if the overpowering Monarch that no one could hunt, appeared and awakened in Berest Mountains where all of the world’s strongest had gathered?”

The result was obvious. Every single player would be wiped out and their items would drop.

‘The world players will definitely drop noble and honorable artifacts, right?’

Just the thought was enough to send a thrill down Bedu’s spine. He was sure that there would be artifacts that he had never seen before. There would also be items that were not available on the servers in other countries.

‘Amazing! It’s going to be amazing!’

This was the only time that the Monarch would be summoned in Beas Village and Haochen Guild had been preparing for it for two months already. It was time for them to pull in the net.

“Let’s go. Let’s wake the Monarch.” 

“Yes!” 

They quickly moved out.

***

“Me.” 

When he heard Minhyuk’s words, Black Mage Ali’s face wrinkled. He looked like he was about to break down and cry. The Hellfire behind him slowly disappeared. Then, he leaned against the wall in despair as he thought, ‘I have been looking for it so much but…!’ 

It took Ali an enormous amount of money and time just to get information on the Thousand-year-old Ginseng. This situation was something inevitable. Especially for Ali, a Black Mage, who did not have the help of an excellent ‘Informant’ in his guild, unlike Minhyuk. He even took on a special quest that told him that the Thousand-year-old Ginseng would change its position every time. Alas, though he took great pains to discover where it would appear, this happened.

‘I came here finally thinking that I would be able to get it. But now?! I can’t believe that he cooked and ate the Thousand-year-old Ginseng in samgyetang!’

The worst part was that the man just nonchalantly ate and scraped away the last bit of soup.

‘It… it looked delicious though…’ Ali suddenly thought.

Samgyetang with the Thousand-year-old Ginseng? That would most definitely be the real soup among all soups! 

Not long after, Minhyuk wore his helmet and asked, “What’s your business here?” 

After Minhyuk finished his meal, he seemed to be quite wary of Ali. In response, Ali just smiled bitterly while thinking, ‘This idiotic punk…’ 

Ali knew the reason why Minhyuk reacted coldly. It was only a natural response. No one would be happy if someone popped up beside them with an attack magic spell behind them. That momentary greed had almost cost Ali.

“I’m sorry. About the attack spell a while ago.” 

Minhyuk was quite surprised. He thought, ‘Hmm? I’m sure that he’s clearly high-leveled.’

There were only a few players who could use Hellfire. No, they were so rare that players questioned if they really existed. However, the man in front of Minhyuk easily confessed his mistake and even apologized.

Then, Ali said, “That… This may sound like an excuse, but I’ve been searching for the Thousand-year-old Ginseng for two months. When I saw the Thousand-year-old Ginseng being eaten by others in a sa…samgye… Cough!” 

Ali caught himself just as he was about to finish saying samgyetang. He coughed loudly as if to spit out the word that got stuck in his throat.

‘No, but this doesn’t even make sense!’

Ali shook his head as if to clear his thoughts, before continuing to say, “I was so agitated to see you eating that samgyetang with that material. Ah. I’m so stupid that I even thought of PK-ing you for a moment there.”

Ali smiled wryly. Black Mage Ali was a solo player. As a Mage player, his ambition and dream was to become the strongest mage among all the mages, not only in Korea, but also globally. There were no mages named and crowned in the ‘Hall of Kings’ yet, so Ali wanted to become the first one to do so.

Other than that, Ali was a good person. He would protect what he could protect. His only problem was that he was alone when he played the game. That was also the reason why he was unaware of Minhyuk’s identity, despite the latter not hiding his face at all. Ali was in mad pursuit of the Thousand-year-old Ginseng, so he did not have the slightest bit of knowledge about the happenings in Athenae: Korean War.

“Hmm…” Minhyuk hummed. 

Ali realized that Minhyuk was still suspicious of him. So, he hurriedly said, “To be honest, I have been searching for the Thousand-year-old Ginseng for two months. I thought that I could be the first-ever mage to enter the Hall of Kings if I raised my mana by 1.5x. I looked for it for two months and still ended up missing it. Sigh…”

As Minhyuk watched Ali trying to prove his innocence, he realized something.

‘He’s not a bad person.’

The man spent two months just to find it because he wanted to enter the Hall of Kings? Minhyuk also found it understandable that Ali wanted to become the first mage to ever climb the Hall of Kings.

Then, Ali asked, “Are you a chef?”

“Ah. Yes.”

“I see. It won’t be easy for you to go down then.”

Ali did not care much about Minhyuk’s class. There were various classes that would come to Beas Village and there were various people who could receive quests. It might be hard for people to come up here due to the monsters, but it was not impossible especially if they could avoid it well.

“I’ll help you go down as a token of my apology. Oh, and…”

Ali rummaged through his items. He had received a good artifact a little while ago. Besides, from what Ali could see, Minhyuk seemed to be an unusual chef. To put it simply, a chef who loved to eat! He believed that he would be able to apologize well with this artifact. Ali almost PK-ed Minhyuk, so he would not feel at ease if he just let it go like that.

Ali pulled out a small box while asking, “Have you heard of Magical Snack Boxes?”

Minhyuk tilted his head when he heard his words. Magical Snack Box?

Ali smiled at him as he handed over the box and said, “A random snack across the world will appear once every day. Let’s see, today’s snack is…”

Not long after, Ali pulled out a snack from the box. It was a ‘Tako Snack’. When Minhyuk saw the snack being pulled out, he thought, ‘…Th…this is a revolutionary item!’ 

Ali was handing over this extremely amazing item to him willingly. Minhyuk could not help but break out into a wide, happy grin.